Russia. Geography

1.

2. Geography

Russia is the largest country that is part of both Europe and Asia.
It is twice as big as Australia!

3. The Russian flag

The colours of the flag are white,
blue and red. There is no precise
meaning what the colours
represent. Traditionally white
represents freedom and
independence, blue represents
faith, red represents power and
courage.

4. Major facts

Official Language: Russian
Population: 144 million
Capital City: Moscow
Major Religions: Christianity
followed by Islam, Buddhism
and Judaism

5. Population of Russia

As of 2020, Russia has a population of 144.1
million.
There are over 190 ethnic groups living in
Russia:
• 81% are ethnic Russians
• 4% are Tatars
The Tatars
There are about 6 million
Tatar people living in
Russia. They speak Tatar
and live in the Republic of
Tatarstan.
Ethnic Groups
Groups of people with similar cultural background

6.

Nature
Russia has 56 national parks and 112 wildlife reserves. It also has
the largest area of forests of all the countries in the world. Due to
its size, there are many different climatic zones in Russia and the
environment ranges from deserts to polar regions.
Russia is the home of the Siberian tiger, the largest cat in the
world.

7. Russian Traditional Costume

A sarafan is a traditional pinafore dress
worn by some Russian women and girls.
It is traditionally worn over a ‘rubakha’
(oversized shirt).
The most common colours used for
clothing were red, blue and white and
were often decorated with embroidery.

8. Ballet

Russia is famous for its ballet schools
and ballet dancers.
Although ballet originated in France
and Italy, it was refined in Russia and
became very popular in the 20th
century.
There is a strong ballet heritage in
Russian figure skating. Russia is the
best performing country in this sport.

9. Famous people of Russia

Leo Tolstoy
Yuri Gagarin
author
first astronaut
Vassily Kandinsky
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
artist
Composer
“Maria Sharapova 2014” by [cirodelia47] is licensed under CC BY 2.0

10. Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky was a Russian musician
and composer.
He is also famous for writing music for
ballets including ‘The Sleeping Beauty’,
‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Nutcracker’.
Tchaikovsky was the first Russian
composer to be famous outside of his
home country.

11.

Wassily Kandinsky
Kandinsky was the first
painter to stop painting
pictures of real things and
instead paint just using colors
and shapes. He believed that
this let him paint honestly
about his feelings.
Often Kandinsky would listen
to music while he painted and
try to paint what he heard.

12. Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to enter space when he went in
1961. It took 108 minutes to orbit the Earth at a speed of 27,400
kilometres per hour! He was a national hero and worldwide celebrity.

13. Leo Tolstoy

One of the most famous authors of
all time is the Russian novelist Leo
Tolstoy who was born on 9th
September 1828.
Tolstoy’s best-known works are
War and Peace and Anna Karenina
which have both been adapted into
films and TV programmes around
the world.

14. Railways

Russia has the world’s longest railway. The Trans-Siberian
railway travels across almost the entire width of the country
and is 9 288 km long. If you were to ride the train without
stopping from beginning to end, it would take you 152 hours
and 27 minutes to complete!

15. Famous Sights in Russia

St. Basil’s Cathedral,
Moscow, Russia
Lake Baikal, Russia
The Winter Palace, St
Petersburg, Russia

16. St. Basil’s Cathedral

This is one of Russia’s most
famous buildings, and it is
located in Red Square in
Moscow.
It was built from 1555 to 1561
on orders from Ivan the
Terrible.

17. Lake Baikal

It is a Russian treasure and the
deepest lake on the planet.
Lake Baikal is also the largest
reservoir of freshwater in the
world. It contains more water
than all the lakes combined.

18. The Winter Palace

The Winter Palace is a former
official residence of the Russian
monarchy. Now it is a museum.
The main façade of the Winter
Palace faces the Neva River.

19. Food

Soup is a very important dish
in Russia and there are many
different types – cold and hot.
Boiled meats and offal are
very popular foods as well.
Pickling is a very common
way of preparing vegetables.
An ancient, yet still very
popular non-alcoholic drink is
called “Kvass.” It is made
from bread and fermented
like a beer.